Collier County commissioners pushed forward on Tuesday a temporary ban on any new gas stations, car washes, self-storage units or pawnshops opening along a 7-mile stretch of U.S. 41 in East Naples.

The moratorium will last until December, a full 12 months after the idea was proposed.

Commissioners approved the ban in a 4-1 vote on the condition that developers who have started the pre-application process to build any of those businesses are exempt.

It will also not apply to developers hoping to build a gas station or car wash in a planned unit development.

Temporarily halting the four types of businesses along the main corridor in East Naples will allow the county to tighten up zoning rules that haven’t been updated since the 1980s, supporters say.

“This will let us look for ways to make this a vibrant, thriving road where people want to come to,” Donna Fiala said. “We want to make this so people in East Naples don’t have to travel to other areas but can shop here and have their dog taken care of and buy a pair of shoes. You can’t do that with a storage unit.”

Several developers told commissioners the county doesn’t need another moratorium on gas stations. Commissioners rewrote their county-wide rules regarding gas stations in 2015, after putting a yearlong moratorium on new gas stations opening within a certain distance from a residential area.

“We are not speaking in opposition,” said Bruce Anderson, a lawyer who represents Wawa, a gas station and convenience store chain. “We do want to express our concern generally about another moratorium on businesses with gas pumps.”

Wawa is opening a store at the southwest corner of U.S. 41 and Price Street. It also has filed an application to build a store at the Naples South Plaza, near the corner of U.S. 41 East and Rattlesnake Hammock Road.

The moratorium wouldn’t affect the proposed Wawa locations, since they have already begun the application process.

Michael Fernandez, a landowner along U.S. 41, said the moratorium is a waste of county resources.

“Our time would be better spent to accomplish the overall study of the corridor and implement it, rather than on placing a moratorium for these four specific uses,” Fernandez said.

Commissioner Bill McDaniel, who cast the lone vote against the moratorium, said he wants to see the county focus on finding ways to give incentives to developers to improve the area, rather than limiting the type of stores they can build.

“Incentives need to lead the process in lieu of a penalization,” McDaniel said. “And a moratorium is a penalization. Just because we’re behind on our planning process I don’t think we should penalize people who have vested property rights.”

In other business, commissioners unanimously approved paying $185,617 owed to the defunct BQ Concrete, a company accused of defrauding the county out of thousands of dollars.

Collier Clerk Dwight Brock said he will withhold up to $49,923 he believes the company has over-billed the county over the years.

Brock said he is negotiating with BQ attorneys to determine the final amount that will be withheld for unverified work.

Commissioners also unanimously voted to re-tighten their ethics rules.

The county employees will go back to barring employees from accepting gifts that have a value of more than $4, essentially limiting gifts to a cup of coffee and a doughnut.

The rules were written in 1998 in the wake of the Stadium Naples scandal. Three county commissioners and a county manager were arrested on suspicion of racketeering, accused among other things of accepting gifts that included everything from free rounds of golf to a no-money down stake in a real estate development.

But in 2013, commissioners eased the ordinance to allow for gifts of up to $25.

"Our ordinance had stood the test of time, and I'm not sure why it was changed," Commissioner Penny Taylor said. "We are in government, and government has different rules than the private sector. I don’t see why we can't live under the rules prior to 2013."